“What will you do, Mr. & Mrs. White Southerner. . . ?”

It seems that on Tuesday someone posted a nasty little screed over at SHPG urging white southerners to band together against the “blacks, Hispanics, Jews, etc.” who are set on “‘get[ing] even’ with the White Devils.” It was up for a couple of hours before it was removed and the person who posted it got booted from group’s membership. Gary assumed responsibility for the post, and apologized for it. And I am certain that he is sincere about that.

Nonetheless, Gary left out one really important fact about that post. It wasn’t some random new member who posted those paragraphs, but arguably the most prominent southern nationalist today, League of the South President J. Michael Hill:

I know Gary and other folks at SHPG are embarrassed by this, but they should also be embarrassed that some of their members obviously agree with Hill. If Gary and the rest of the leadership at SHPG were serious about calling out such vile people, they would do so by name. Hill’s post is only surprising for its location; his views, and the those of the League of the South, have been very clear for a while now. Whether they saw that particular posting or not, I’m sure nearly everyone on SHPG knows who Hill (right) and his group are; why protect them by giving them anonymity in their bad behavior? Is it because many prominent members at SHPG — John Stones, Robert Mestas, Valerie Protopapas, Carl Roden, Susan Frise Hathaway, David Tatum, Jimmy Shirley and Karen Cooper — are (as of this writing) social network friends of Hill’s?

While you’re at it, Gary, you might want to ask yourself why a smart, calculating man like Hill would think his message would have a receptive audience at SHPG — which, for at least some folks, it absolutely did.

I know that Gary and the other folks at SHPG won’t ask those questions. But one can hope.

If Confederate Heritage™ means covering up for reprehensible characters like Michael Hill, it damn well deserves to whither and die.

It’s important to remember that Hill didn’t just pop up on Tuesday saying things like this; he’s been marching down this road for years, and preaching it to anyone and everyone who would listen. There’s no excuse whatsoever for anyone to be surprised that this is what Hill and the League of the South represent.

As a very much “un-reconconstructed Yankee,” I’m happy to say that the vast majority of my southern friends don’t run in these SHPG-type circles at all. They would be appalled at this post. As I think I said on another thread on Dead Confederates I find that most southerns that I meet today are less bigoted than most modern-day northerners. I attribute this to fact that many southerners with great hearts and Christian values had to face their region’s racism in the 1960s during the Civil Rights Movement in a direct way that northerners never had to. I’m wondering, though, if some of thes neo-Confederates that write things like this post of Mr. Hill’s might be younger southerners who didn’t live through that sorry period in our history.

To be clear, I don’t think Hill and his fanboys and -girls are typical of the South AT ALL. If Gary and his friends were serious about their own love for this region, they would drop anything connected to Hill like a hot stove.

I’ve lived most of my life in the South, but I’ve also spent a fair amount of time in more northerly climes. (In fact, in one case, much further north and I’d have been in Canada.) You’re not going to catch me arguing that bigotry ends once you cross the Mason-Dixon Line, heading northward.

Believe me, I’m glad that most of the Southerners you meet seem to be relatively enlightened. But it’s still a fact that there’s almost a one-to-one identity between the states who’ve passed laws whose clear intent is to suppress minority votes, and the old Confederacy. Same with the fanciful districting which ensures blacks and Latinos will be underrepresented. And those are just a few of the policies which disproportionately hurt minorities.

Someone in the South must approve of this — at least, enough of them to keep voting these politicians into office. So maybe I’m not so inclined to let my Southern compatriots off the hook quite yet, especially to the extent of believing that white people are *less* bigoted here than in the North.

Though there were undoubtedly white Southerners of many faiths (and agnostics and atheists) who were sympathetic to the Civil Rights Movement, I can’t help but recall how so many white Southern Christians faced desegregation by looking into their hearts — and promptly yanking their kids out of the public schools and setting up private academies. (Where you can be sure they were taught a sanitized version of American history, especially the Civil War. It’s really not that much of a wonder that the products of these schools might be ripe targets for neo-Confederate apologetics, although it would of course be misleading to claim they’re the only source of new recruits. People are attracted to white supremacy for a variety of reasons, from a lot of different backgrounds.)

But I’ve never found Christianity to be any guarantee that the believer was incapable of being a bigot. Here in the Bible Belt, all too often bigotry seems to go hand-in-hand with the loudest professions of love for Jesus.

Even if I were to concede that back in the 60s white Southerners had to face their racism “in a direct way that northerners never had to” — and I don’t, but I’ve already gone on too long to get into the reasons why — I’ve also seen a great deal of denial since then, and precious few who suddenly saw the light because Bull Connor appalled their Christian sensibilities. (I won’t even comment on the obtuseness of people who required the Civil Rights Movement to make them understand there was something wrong with racism.)

Mostly, I’ve seen attitudes change, slowly. Over time, there’s been a grudging realization that expressing opinions like Mr. Hill’s in public brands you as a racist yahoo, and that’s a measure of progress. But it still doesn’t say all that much about a person’s core beliefs. Plus, the coded language the more genteel manifestations of racism have learned to use makes it that much harder to call it out for what it is.

I agree with Andy, that the views of Hill and his ilk aren’t typical of the South. But we’re kidding ourselves if we think there aren’t substantial numbers of people here whose major problem with Hill wouldn’t be so much what he said, as how he said it. It’s the only explanation that fits the facts of our politics.

As the song says, “You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear.” It’s an unfortunate truth of the human condition that there always seem to be willing teachers.

Sunlight, as they say, is the best disinfectant. Keep on shining the light on these roaches and maybe they’ll realize a growing segment of the South’s population wants nothing to do with this perverse mentality. Of course, it’s up to all of us who disagree with Michael Hill and his ilk to speak out when we have the opportunity, not simply shake our heads and let them slide when they spout their tripe.

The heritage folks work hard to be vigorously ignorant of the views routinely and publicly expressed by people like Hill. And when confronted with them, express shock and dismay, followed quickly by rationalizations or excusing the behavior. We see this over and over again. It’s not bug, it’s a feature.